Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Priorities. Those things you have to put before other things because you have made commitments.

Yesterday I wanted to announce that Legacy Rewound is live, but Beastie 1 (my son, for anyone new to the site) and I were volunteering at local food bank most of the day. Yep, that comes first. There are families that rely on that ministry for food every week, and the ministry relies on us.

This morning I wanted to announce that Legacy Rewound is live, but Beastie 1 is helping his grandpa fix a car--a project that has done a lot to bring them closer and they've been having so much fun--and I needed to drive him over there. So yep again, that comes first.

This afternoon I wanted to announce that Legacy Rewound is live, but Realm Makers is coming up FAST, and the work I'd intended to do over the weekend was side-tracked by a stomach bug. So today I needed to get schedules finalized and submitted. Realm Makers is a conference I believe wholeheartedly in, and I want more than anything for all of it to go smoothly--including my part.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

If you follow me on Facebook, you got a sneaky-peek of the cover for Legacy Rewound yesterday. I was home sick in bed when my proof copy arrived, and I just couldn't wait to share, but I wasn't up to doing it properly. Here's the image I posted:

My photo doesn't quite do it justice, though. Yes, the real-life cover is a bit darker than the original jpeg, but it's so, so lovely. Here is what the original file looks like, front and back:

Just a few more days and it'll be live and ready for purchase! Just waiting for Amazon to sync the pages, then I can share the link!

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

I spent part of last week with a group of friends--most of them new friends, as I was meeting them for the first time.

I had hopes that at least one of them would come even a little close to my level of geekiness, but alas, that proved a false hope. None of them had ever seen so much as a single episode of Doctor Who. It did make me very grateful for Jeff and Beastie 2 who got my obscure hints during our games of Taboo and Catchphrase.

This is not a new feeling for me. I'm the oddball in my homeschool group (the only mom who needs more than two hands to count her piercings) and my Christian writers group (the speculative fiction and horror writer). I was a punk-rocker in my teens and early twenties. (Technically, I still am, but the look is tamer these days.) Growing up, I was nerd, geek, girl-who-loved-sci-fi, tall and lanky, etc.

You'd think I'd relate strongly to feeling the outcast. And yes, at times, I truly have. But over the years, I've realized that I am not an Outcast...

out·castnoun1.a person who has been rejected by society or a social group.synonyms: pariah, persona non grata, reject, outsider, leper

I am an Outlier.

out·li·ernoun1.a person or thing situated away or detached from the main body or system."less accessible islands and outliers"2.a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set."an outlier in Faulkner's body of work"

The difference is, an Outcast really wants to be in that main body, right there with everyone else. An Outlier, though, simply sits apart because that is who or what they are.

I enjoyed my time with friends last week. We talked and joked and, of course, played board games. But not once did I wish to not be the oddball. Not once did I wish my to hide my geekiness so they would accept me. Not once did I feel Outcast...but I definitely felt the Outlier.

It's accepting that difference in me that allows me to have fun in these situations though, not just during those times where I'm with my fellow geeks or punks or whatever. Letting go of any need for approval of my quirks lets me see them as simply part of who I am, and think only of being the best me I can be no matter who I'm around.

So, I stayed in the shade the whole time we boated, and I used Doctor Who references while we played board games, and I shopped art galleries and Celtic gift shops...

And bought stuff like this at a candy store:

And geeked out over space-themed ceiling fans at the Greek restaurant where we had lunch: